The darkness was heavy. It felt like a physical weight pressing down on them. The only sound was Tanya's ragged breathing and the distant, rhythmic dripping of water from somewhere deep in the old rail tunnels.
Tanya didn't move the shock pistol. Even though it was useless without power, the Archivist didn't know that. In the dim light, she looked like someone who had already lost everything and had nothing left to fear. She wasn't just Roman's wife anymore. She was a mother on a mission.
"The key," Tanya said. Her voice was low and steady. "Now."
The Archivist reached into his pocket. Marcus was instantly there, his hand on his own gun. His body was still shaking from the sonic bursts that had hit him earlier.
"Slowly," Marcus warned.
The Archivist pulled out a thin, silver thumb drive. It caught the faint light reflecting off the floor. "It's a physical bridge," he said. His voice was trembling.
"The Zero-State Archive isn't on a cloud. It's on a closed circuit. This is the only way to find the location. You plug this in, and the map generates once. Then it deletes itself."
Tanya snatched it from his hand. The metal was cold. She squeezed it tight. It was the first solid lead she'd had since Angie was taken.
"Where is she?" Tanya asked. "Where is my daughter?"
"The drive will give you the coordinates," the Archivist whispered. He looked toward the door they had kicked open. "But you need to leave. Now. The system stopped when you hit that panel. A recovery team is already on their way. They don't come to talk. They come to clean up."
Marcus grabbed the Archivist by the collar. "Then you're coming with us. You're our insurance."
"No," the Archivist said. He looked truly terrified. "If they find me with you, I'm a traitor. If they find me here, tied up, I can tell them you overpowered me. If I leave with you, I'm a dead man."
Tanya looked at the drive, then at Marcus. She could hear it now—a faint, mechanical hum from the elevator shafts. The Agency was coming for them.
"He's right," Tanya said. She looked at the Archivist one last time. "If this drive is a lie, I'll come back. And I won't be so nice next time."
She didn't wait. She turned and ran toward the dark mouth of the service tunnel, Marcus right behind her.
The tunnel was a nightmare. It smelled of rusted pipes and wet soot. Tanya's boots splashed through oily puddles. Her heart was a drum in her ears. They didn't use their flashlights. They couldn't risk being seen.
"This way," Marcus hissed. He pulled her into a narrow side passage. It was a tight squeeze, and the air was thick with dust.
They moved in silence. Tanya's mind was racing. Zero-State. The Archivist had said they were trying to erase the memory of Angie. They wanted Tanya to believe her baby never existed.
I am not crazy, she told herself. Angie Christine is real.
"They're behind us," Marcus whispered. "We need to get to the street level before they lock the doors."
They reached a rusted ladder. Marcus went first, climbing despite the pain from the sonic trap. Tanya followed. Her muscles ached. Every step felt like a mile. Her hands were raw, but she didn't stop.
At the top, Marcus pushed against a heavy iron grate. He heaved until it opened with a loud screech. They scrambled out into a rainy alleyway. The cold air hit Tanya's face, but she liked it. It felt real.
They walked quickly toward Marcus's car. They didn't run—running made people look suspicious. They kept their heads down and moved through the shadows.
They reached the car and slid inside. The interior smelled like old coffee. It was a familiar, safe smell. Marcus didn't start the engine right away. He looked at Tanya. His face was bruised, but his eyes were sharp.
"You okay?" he asked.
Tanya looked at the silver drive in her hand. "I will be. When I have Angie back."
"We can't go to my place," Marcus said, turning the key. The engine growled to life. "And we can't go to yours. They'll be watching. We need a clean spot. Somewhere with no computers."
"I know a place," Tanya said. "My family has an old cabin. It's far out. No internet, no smart tech. Nothing they can track."
Marcus nodded. He shifted the car into gear and pulled out into the rain. "Then that's where we go. We see what's on that drive, and then we go get your daughter."
As the city lights went by, Tanya saw her reflection in the window. She looked different. The woman she used to be was gone. In her place was someone harder.
She tucked the silver drive into her pocket. The Archivist thought he could delete a life. But he was wrong. Tanya was going to find Angie, and she was going to burn the Protocol to the ground to do it.